Video editing matched to musical beats

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus provide for a clip-beat aligner that identifies musical beats in an audio file. An editing mode is provided to associate the audio file with a media segment according to a timeline. The clip-beat aligner aligns a boundary of the media segment with a musical beat on the timeline. Upon performing an editing operation, the clip-beat aligner maintains that the boundary of the media segment is aligned with any one of the musical beats. To align a boundary of each media segment with a musical beat, the clip-beat aligner identifies a musical beat that is proximate to the position of the media segment&#39;s boundary. The clip-beat aligner then aligns the media segment&#39;s boundary with the proximate musical beat by, if necessary, automatically trimming the media segment&#39;s duration such that the media segment&#39;s boundary occurs at the same moment in time as the proximate musical beat.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Patent Application is a Continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/859,141 filed on Sep. 21, 2007 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,569,761,entitled, “VIDEO EDITING MATCHED TO MUSICAL BEATS”, the contents andteachings of which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

BACKGROUND

Conventional video editing software applications enable users to edit,manage and create various types of video media content for personaland/or professional purposes. Based on use of such applications, digitalvideos, images and sounds may be modified and combined in conventionalvideo editing software to produce a desired multi-media effect.

Typically, a user can access various types of digital content on a localcomputer using a corresponding graphical user interface (e.g., includingmenus, icons, toolbar functions, etc.) associated with an executed videoediting software application. In such a context, as mentioned above, thevideo editing software typically enables users to add graphics (e.g.,superimpose captions, titles, etc.) and effects to the edited videomedia content. Such effects may include features such as a black andwhite mode, blurring of images and video frames, transition schemes fortransitioning between video clips, and/or similar methods suitable forproducing creative digital video content.

SUMMARY

Conventional applications that provide video editing functionalitysuffer from a variety of deficiencies. For example, when video editorsdesire to enhance their edited video(s) with music, most conventionalapplications require manually aligning video clips to the musical beatsthat is to accompany the video project. Such manual alignment burdensvideo editors as it is a very time consuming task. First, the videoeditors need to locate the beats in the audio, then they must arrangeall their clips such that they fit exactly between beats or at the samemoment in time that the desired beats occur. At a later stage in thevideo editing process, as video clips are removed or added, the wholemanual alignment process has to be repeated to get all the clipsrealigned.

Embodiments disclosed herein can significantly overcome suchdeficiencies and/or other deficiencies in the prior art. The embodimentsherein provide for a clip-beat aligner that detects beats in an audiofile (e.g. music beats) and automatically trims (or expands) mediasegment boundaries in order to align the boundaries of each mediasegment to a beat. Thus, as editing operations are executed, theclip-beat aligner can continually trim and retrim the media segment(e.g. video clip, image still) boundaries to ensure that the boundariesare always aligned to beats in the music. Moreover, the clip-beataligner does not require that media segment boundaries maintain analignment with a particular musical beat throughout the entire editingprocess. Although, the clip-beat aligner can provide for an editing modewhich allows for a clip boundary to be permanently aligned with aspecific musical beat.

According to one embodiment of the clip-beat aligner, musical beats areidentified in the audio file whenever there is a strong decibel rise ina short duration of time. In other words, a beat can be identified wherethe amplitude of the audio is a specific amount (i.e. a predefinedamount) higher than the amplitude of the lowest point within a specificduration of time. The clip-beat aligner can indicate the “best” beats asthose instances of sound in the audio file that have a maximum decibelrise during a fixed duration of time.

According to another embodiment of the clip-beat aligner, when any videoclip is added to the video editing timeline, all the clips (includingthe newly added clip) will be aligned to a proximate beat. For example,where the numbers A, B, C, D represent 4 different clips and theirlengths are 1, 2, 3, 4 units respectively, the beat-clip alignment canbe as follows:

BEATS # # # # # # CLIPS A B C C D D DHere, video clips B, C and D have been automatically trimmed to newdurations of 1, 2, and 3, respectively, in order to align with themusical beats. For the editor, this is a one step process that entailsadding the video clips (A, B, C, D) onto the timeline and selecting theediting mode to have the video clips automatically trimmed to “snap”into a location on the timeline such that the video clip boundaries arein alignment with the proximate musical beats.

Were the video editor to execute additional editing operations, then thealignment of clips A, B, C, D would be affected. According to anotherembodiment of the clip-beat aligner, if the video editor deletes a clipfrom the timeline then there can be a ripple effect to automaticallytrim the remaining video clips in order to maintain alignment withbeats. For example, before the delete operation, the timeline and beatalignment can appear as follows:

BEATS # # # # # # CLIPS A B C C D D DNext, the video editor decides to delete clip ‘C’, which will effect thelength and beat alignment of video clip D. The final timeline and beatalignment can then appear as follows:

BEATS # # # # # # CLIPS A B D DHere, apart from deleting clip ‘C’, the duration of clip ‘D’ is againtrimmed in order to reduce D's duration from 3 units to 2 units, therebyaligning clip ‘D’ with the third beat.

Thus, according to general embodiments, the clip-beat aligner identifiesmusical beats in an audio file. An editing mode is further provided toassociate the audio file with a media segment (e.g. video clip, imagestill) according to a timeline. The clip-beat aligner's editing modealigns a boundary of the media segment with one of the musical beats onthe timeline. Upon performing an editing operation in the editing mode,the clip-beat aligner maintains that the boundary of the media segmentis aligned with any one of the musical beats.

To align a boundary of each media segment with a musical beat, theclip-beat aligner identifies a proximate musical beat, from among allmusical beats in the audio file, that is closest to a position of themedia segment's boundary on the timeline. The proximate musical beat canbe identified by measuring from an initial beat of the audio file, apreceding musical beat that is already aligned with the boundary ofanother media segment, or from the beginning of that particular mediasegment on the timeline. Thus, the proximate beat can be a beat that islocated closest to but not exceeding the maximum duration of the mediasegments as measured from the point at which the clip begins at (if theclip has been trimmed already the proximate beat could be further formthe beginning of the clip then the currently trimmed duration of theclip). For image stills, the proximate beat can also be a beat that islocated closest to a default duration that is specified for still imagesas measured from the point at which the still image begins.

Once the clip-beat aligner has identified the proximate musical beat,the clip-beat aligner aligns the media segment's boundary with theproximate musical beat by, if necessary, automatically trimming themedia segment's duration such that the new trimmed duration results inthe boundary of the media segment occurring at the same moment in time(i.e. simultaneously) on the timeline as the proximate musical beat.

Other embodiments include a computerized device, configured to processall the method operations disclosed herein as embodiments of theclip-beat aligner. In such embodiments, the computerized device includesa memory system, a processor, communications interface in aninterconnection mechanism connecting these components. The memory systemis encoded with a process that provides an interface with distinctinteraction models as explained herein that when performed (e.g. whenexecuting) on the processor, operates as explained herein within thecomputerized device to perform all of the method embodiments andoperations explained herein as embodiments of the clip-beat aligner.Thus, any computerized device that performs or is programmed to performthe processing explained herein is an embodiment of the clip-beataligner.

It is to be understood that the embodiments of the clip-beat aligner canbe embodied strictly as a software program, as software and hardware, oras hardware and/or circuitry alone, such as within a data communicationsdevice. The features of the clip-beat aligner, as explained herein, maybe employed in data communications devices and/or software systems forsuch devices such as those manufactured by Adobe Systems, Incorporatedof San Jose, Calif.

Note that each of the different features, techniques, configurations,etc. discussed in this disclosure can be executed independently or incombination. Accordingly, the present clip-beat aligner can be embodiedand viewed in many different ways.

Also, note that this summary section herein does not specify everyembodiment and/or incrementally novel aspect of the present disclosureor claimed clip-beat aligner. Instead, this summary only provides apreliminary discussion of different embodiments and corresponding pointsof novelty over conventional techniques. For additional details,elements, and/or possible perspectives (permutations) of the clip-beataligner, the reader is directed to the Detailed Description section andcorresponding figures of the present disclosure as further discussedbelow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of theclip-beat aligner will be apparent from the following description ofparticular embodiments of the clip-beat aligner, as illustrated in theaccompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to thesame parts throughout the different views. The drawings are notnecessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustratingthe principles of the clip-beat aligner.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system configured with aclip-beat aligner according to embodiments herein.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of media segment boundaries that are trimmedand aligned to musical beats according to embodiments herein.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of processing steps performed by a clip-beataligner to align media segment boundaries to musical beats according toembodiments herein.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of processing steps performed by a clip-beataligner to maintain an alignment of the boundary of a media segment withany musical beat upon performing the editing operation in the editingmode according to embodiments herein.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of media segment boundaries that are trimmedand aligned to musical beats in response to adding a media segment to atimeline according to embodiments herein.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of media segment boundaries that are trimmedand aligned to musical beats in response to deleting a media segmentfrom a timeline according to embodiments herein.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of processing steps performed by a clip-beataligner to perform a delete operation according to embodiments herein.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of media segment boundaries that are trimmedand aligned to musical beats in response to trimming a media segment ona timeline according to embodiments herein.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of processing steps performed by a clip-beataligner to perform a trim operation according to embodiments herein.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of processing steps performed by a clip-beataligner to perform an expand operation according to embodiments herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Methods and apparatus provide for a clip-beat aligner with an editingmode that allows for detecting beats in music and aligning video and/orgraphic clip boundaries to the detected beats as a user performs editingoperations. Thus, the clip-beat aligner can maintain that video and/orimage still boundaries (i.e. endpoints) are aligned to the beats in themusic without requiring the user to manually manipulate the clipboundaries.

In particular, the clip-beat aligner provides an editing mode toassociate the audio file with a media segment according to a timeline.The clip-beat aligner aligns a boundary of the media segment with amusical beat on the timeline. Upon performing an editing operation, theclip-beat aligner maintains that the boundary of the media segment isaligned with any one of the musical beats. To align the boundary of eachmedia segment with a musical beat, the clip-beat aligner identifies amusical beat that is proximate to the position of the media segment'sboundary. The clip-beat aligner then aligns the media segment's boundarywith the proximate musical beat by, if necessary, automatically trimmingthe media segment's duration such that the media segment's boundaryoccurs at the same moment in time (i.e. simultaneously) as the proximatemusical beat.

Turning now to FIG. 1, a block diagram illustrates an example ofarchitecture for a computer system 110 that executes, runs, interprets,operates or otherwise performs a clip-beat aligner application 150-1and/or clip-beat aligner process 150-2 (e.g. an executing version of theapplication 150-1 controlled by user 108) according to embodimentsherein. The computer system 110 may be any type of computerized devicesuch as a personal computer, a client computer system, workstation,portable computing device, console, laptop, network terminal or thelike.

As shown in the present example, the computer system 110 includes aninterconnection mechanism 111 such as a data bus, motherboard or othercircuitry that couples a memory system 112, a processor 113, aninput/output interface 114, and a display 130 presenting a graphicaluser interface 205 of the clip-beat aligner 150. An input device 116(e.g., one or more user/developer controlled devices such as a keyboard,mouse, touch pad, etc.) couples to the computer system 110 and processor113 through an input/output (I/O) interface 114. The computer system 110can be a client system and/or a server system. Further, aspects of theclip-beat aligner application 150-1 and/or the clip-beat aligner process150-2 can be distributed over a networked environment.

The memory system 112 can be any type of computer readable medium and,in this example, is encoded with a clip-beat aligner application 150-1that supports generation, display, and implementation of functionaloperations as will be further explained herein. During operation of thecomputer system 110, the processor 113 accesses the memory system 112via the interconnect 111 in order to launch, run, execute, interpret orotherwise perform the logic instructions of the clip-beat alignerapplication 150-1. Execution of the clip-beat aligner application 150-1in this manner produces the clip-beat aligner process 150-2. In otherwords, the clip-beat aligner process 150-2 represents one or moreportions or runtime instances of the clip-beat aligner application 150-1(or the entire application 150-1) performing or executing within or uponthe processor 113 in the computerized device 110 at runtime.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the computer system 110may include other processes and/or software and hardware components,such as an operating system not shown in this example. A display 130need not be coupled directly to computer system 110. For example, theclip-beat aligner application 150-1 can be executed on a remotelyaccessible computerized device via the network interface 115. In thisinstance, the graphical user interface 104 may be displayed locally to auser 108 of the remote computer, and execution of the processing hereinmay be client-server based.

During operation of the computer system 110, the processor 113 accessesthe memory system 112 via the interconnect 111 to launch, run, execute,interpret or otherwise perform the logic instructions of the clip-beataligner application 150-1. Execution of the clip-beat alignerapplication 150-1 in this manner produces processing functionality in aclip-beat aligner process 150-2. In other words, the clip-beat alignerprocess 150-2 represents one or more portions or runtime instances ofthe clip-beat aligner application 150-1 (or the entire targetedadvertisement application 150-1) performing or executing within or uponthe processor 113 in the computerized device 110 at runtime.

A number of flowcharts illustrating embodiments of the clip-beat aligner150 are shown in FIGS. 3, 4, 7, 9 and 10. The rectangular elements areherein denoted “processing blocks” and represent computer softwareinstructions or groups of instructions. Alternatively, the processingblocks represent steps performed by functionally equivalent circuitssuch as a digital signal processor circuit or an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC). The flowcharts do not depict the syntax ofany particular programming language. Rather, the flowcharts illustratethe functional information one of ordinary skill in the art requires tofabricate circuits or to generate computer software to perform theprocessing required in accordance with the present clip-beat aligner. Itshould be noted that many routine program elements, such asinitialization of loops and variables and the use of temporary variablesare not shown. It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in theart that unless otherwise indicated herein, the particular sequence ofsteps described is illustrative only and may be varied without departingfrom the spirit of the clip-beat aligner. Thus, unless otherwise stated,the steps described below are unordered, meaning that, when possible,the steps may be performed in any convenient or desirable order.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of media segment boundaries that are trimmedand aligned to musical beats according to embodiments herein. FIG. 2includes a timeline 400 to align musical beats (depicted as “X”) withboundaries of video clips 420, 430, 440 and an image still 450.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the musical beat 410-1 that occurs at 10seconds into the timeline 400 is considered a proximate musical beat410-1 for the boundary (i.e. the endpoint) of the first video clip 420.The first video clip's 420 proximate musical beat 410-1 is measured fromthe initial musical beat (at 0 seconds) because the first video clip 420is the first media segment added to the video project's timeline 400.Since the first video clip 420 has a duration 15 seconds, the proximatemusical beat 410-1 allows the most time for the content of the firstvideo clip 420. Thus, the proximate musical beat 410-1 on the timeline400 occurs at 10 seconds.

To align the boundary of the first video clip 420 with the proximatemusical beat 410-1, the clip-beat aligner 150 trims 5 seconds of thefirst video clip's 420 original 15 second duration. After being trimmed,the first video clip 420-1 is now only 10 seconds long and can be placedon the timeline 400 to simultaneously occur with the proximate musicalbeat 410-1.

With regard to the second video clip 430, the musical beat 410-2 thatoccurs at 30 seconds into the timeline 400 is considered a proximatemusical beat 410-2. The second video clip's 430 proximate musical beat410-2 is measured from the end of the trimmed first video clip 420-1 onthe timeline 400 (i.e. from where the second video clip 420-1 begins onthe timeline). As measured from 10 seconds into the timeline 400, thesecond video clip's 430 endpoint occurs at the timeline's 400 32 secondmark. Thus, the musical beat 410-2 at 30 seconds is the proximatemusical beat 410-2. To align the second video clip's 430 boundary withthe proximate musical beat 410-2, the clip-beat aligner 150 trims 2seconds from the second video clip's 430 original 22 second duration.After being trimmed, the second video clip 430-1 is now only 20 secondsand can be aligned to simultaneously occur with the proximate musicalbeat 410-2.

Similar calculations used for the second video clip 430 occur withregard to trimming the third video clip 440 to ensure that the trimmedthird video clip's 440-1 boundary occurs simultaneously with theproximate musical beat 410-3, which is measured from trimmed secondvideo clip's 430-1 endpoint. In other words, the proximate musical beat410-3 is located closest to, but not exceeding, the original (i.e.maximum) duration of the third video clip 440, as measured from thatclip's position on the timeline.

For the image still 450, the clip-beat aligner 150 allows the imagestill 450 to be expanded such that the image still's 450 boundary occursat the closest musical beat 410-4. The clip-beat aligner 150 measuresfor the closest musical beat 410-4 from 50 seconds into the timeline400—where the image still 450 is placed. The closest musical beat 410-4for the image still's 450 original duration of 10 seconds occurs at 65seconds into the timeline. Thus, the boundary of the image still 450reaches to the 60 second mark on the timeline 400, which is 5 secondsshort of the closest musical beat 410-4. The clip-beat aligner 150expands the duration of the image still 450 such that the end of theexpanded image still 450-1 occurs simultaneously with the closestmusical beat 410-4—at 65 seconds. It is understood that expanding theimage still 450 can be performed by identifying the closest musical beat410-4 according to a predefined default duration as opposed to theoriginal duration of the image still 450.

Further, it is understood that in order to identify musical beats in theaudio file, the clip-beat aligner 150 allows the user 108 to defining adecibel range and a particular amount of time. Therefore, a musical beatcan be identified whenever there is an increase of volume throughout theaudio file that occurs in the decibel range but within the definedamount of time.

Aspects of the clip-beat aligner 150 illustrated in FIG. 2 will furtherbe discussed in relation to the FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a flowchart 300 ofprocessing steps performed by a clip-beat aligner 150 to align mediasegment boundaries to musical beats according to embodiments herein. Atstep 320, the clip-beat aligner 150 identifies a proximate musical beatthat is closest to the position of each media segment's boundary (i.e.end point) on the timeline. In order to properly identify proximatemusical beats for each media segment, at step 330, the clip-beat aligner150 measures from an initial beat of the audio file, a preceding musicalbeat that is aligned another media segment's boundary that occurs at anearlier position on the time, or from the beginning of the media segmentthat needs to be aligned to a musical beat. Thus, in other words, theproximate musical beat is located closest to but not exceeding a maximumduration (or a trimmed duration) of the media segment as measured fromits position on the timeline at which the media segment begins. For theimage still, the proximate musical beat can be located closest to adefault duration for the image still as measured from its position onthe timeline at which the image still begins.

At step 340, the clip-beat aligner 150 aligns the media segment'sboundary to the proximate musical beat by automatically trimming themedia segment's duration. The trimmed duration results in the mediasegment boundary occurring simultaneously with the proximate musicalbeat on the timeline.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart 465 of processing steps performed by a clip-beataligner 450 to maintain an alignment of the boundary of a media segmentwith any musical beat upon performing an editing operation in theediting mode according to embodiments herein. At step 475, as a resultof an add editing operation, a delete editing operation, a trim editingoperation, and/or a manual expand editing operation, the clip-beataligner 150 identifies a different musical beat as the proximate musicalbeat to the media segment's boundary with respect to a new position ofthe media segment's boundary.

At step 480, the clip-beat aligner 150 realigns the boundary with thedifferent musical beat. In order to realign the boundary at step 485,the clip-beat aligner 150 trims the media segment's duration to placethe boundary at the same moment in time on the timeline as the differentmusical beat. In the alternative, at step 490, the clip-beat aligner 150retrims the trimmed duration of the media segment such that theretrimmed duration places the boundary at the same moment in time on thetimeline as the different musical beat.

With regard to the processing steps of FIG. 4, FIG. 5 is a block diagramof media segment boundaries that are trimmed and aligned to musicalbeats in response to adding a media segment to a timeline according toembodiments herein. In FIG. 5, the clip-beat aligner 150 allows a videoeditor to create a video clip sequence on the timeline 400 with the “Vid3” video clip 440 playing after the “Vid 1” video clip 420-1. However,upon adding the “Vid 2” video clip 430 on the timeline 400 at the 10second mark, the “Vid 2” video clip 430 is trimmed to align with theproximate musical beat 410-2 at 30 seconds. The insertion of the trimmed“Vid 2” video clip 430-1 into the timeline shifts the position of the“Vid 3” video clip 440. Thus, the “Vid 3” video clip 440 will be alignedwith a different musical beat due to its change in position on thetimeline 400 (i.e. in response to adding video clip 430-1).

Measuring from the end of the trimmed “Vid 2” video clip 430-1, theclip-beat aligner 150 identifies a different musical beat 410-5 to alignwith the end of the “Vid 3” video clip 440. The clip-beat aligner 150retrims the “Vid 3” video clip's 440-2 duration from 20 seconds to 15seconds, thereby realigning the trimmed “Vid 3” video clip 440-2 to the45 second musical beat 410-5.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of media segment boundaries that are trimmedand aligned to musical beats in response to deleting a media segmentfrom a timeline according to embodiments herein. As depicted in FIG. 6,the “Vid 2” video clip 430-1 is being deleted from the timeline 400.Since the sequence of video clips on the timeline has been altered, theclip-beat aligner 150 must realign the remaining video clips 420-1,440-1, 450-2, such that each remaining video clip occurs simultaneouslywith a musical beat. For example, the position of the “Vid 3” video clip440-1 is shifted to an earlier position in time on the timeline 400.Since the “Vid 3” video clip 440-1 has been shifted, it will be alignedwith a different musical beat 410-2. The clip-beat aligner 150 measuresfor the different musical beat 410-2 from the end of the “Vid 1” videoclip 420-1, which occurs at 10 seconds into the timeline 400. Theclip-beat aligner 150 identifies the different musical beat 410-2 at 30seconds, which allows the “Vid 3” video clip 440-1 to be aligned withoutany retrimming. As the “Vid 3” video clip 440-1 is realigned to occursimultaneously with the different musical beat 410-2, image still 450-2will be trimmed and realigned to occur simultaneously with a differentmusical beat (at 40 seconds on the timeline 400) as well.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart 700 of processing steps performed by a clip-beataligner to perform a delete operation according to embodiments herein.The processing steps of flowchart 700 relate to the aspects of theclip-beat aligner 150 illustrated in FIG. 6. At step 720, the clip-beataligner 150 selects an unwanted media segment to be deleted from thetimeline. At step 730, as a result of deleting the unwanted mediasegment, the clip-beat aligner 150 performs the steps of identifying thedifferent musical beat and realigning the boundary of the media segmenton the timeline.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of media segment boundaries that are trimmedand aligned to musical beats in response to trimming a media segment ona timeline according to embodiments herein. As depicted in FIG. 8, avideo clip 430-2 is trimmed from 20 seconds to 10 seconds on thetimeline 400, thereby placing the video clip's 430-2 boundary at amusical beat that occurs 20 seconds into the timeline 400. Due to thetrimming operation performed on the video clip 430-2, the “Vid 3” videoclip 440-1 will be placed at a new position on the timeline 400. The“Vid 3” video clip 440-1 will be realigned with a different musicalbeat. Measuring from the end of the trimmed video clip 430-2, at 20seconds in the timeline 400, the clip-beat aligner 150 identifies thedifferent musical beat at 40 seconds. No trimming of the “Vid 3” videoclip 440-1 is required because its duration of 20 seconds allows for itsboundary to align with the different musical beat at 40 seconds.However, image still 450-2 is trimmed as it is realigned with themusical beat 410-3 at 50 seconds into the timeline 400.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart 900 of processing steps performed by a clip-beataligner to perform a trim operation according to embodiments herein. Theprocessing steps of flowchart 900 relate to the aspects of the clip-beataligner 150 illustrated in FIG. 8. At step 920, the clip-beat aligner150 trims a duration of a media segment on the timeline such that theboundary of the trimmed media segment is realigned to a differentmusical beat. At step 930, as a result of trimming the media segment onthe timeline, the clip-beat aligner performs the steps of identifyingdifferent musical beats for any media segment on the timeline andrealigns the boundaries of all other media segments on the timeline 400with different musical beats.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart 1100 of processing steps performed by a clip-beataligner to perform an expand operation according to embodiments herein.At step 1020, the clip-beat aligner 150 can allow a user to expand (i.e.lengthen) the duration of a media segment on the timeline. At step 1030,as a result of expanding the duration of the media segment on thetimeline, the clip-beat aligner 150 performs the steps of identifyingthe different musical beat for media segments on the timeline andrealigning the boundaries of those media segments. Thus, as with theadding, deleting and trimming media segments on the timeline 400, mediasegment boundaries can be trimmed and realigned when the duration ofparticular media segment has been increased.

It is noted that example configurations disclosed herein include theclip-beat aligner application 150-1 itself (i.e., in the form ofun-executed or non-performing logic instructions and/or data). Theclip-beat aligner application 150-1 may be stored on a computer readablemedium (such as a floppy disk), hard disk, electronic, magnetic,optical, or other computer readable medium.

Note again that techniques herein are well suited for a clip-beataligner 150 that allows for recording events that occur during mediacontent consumption, verifying the authenticity of such recorded events(i.e. user interactions, user decisions, user activities), as well astransmitting the authenticated, recorded events to a media publisher.However, it should be noted that embodiments herein are not limited touse in such applications and that the techniques discussed herein arewell suited for other applications as well.

Other arrangements of embodiments of the clip-beat aligner that aredisclosed herein include software programs to perform the methodembodiment steps and operations summarized above and disclosed in detailbelow. More particularly, a computer program product is one embodimentthat has a computer-readable medium including computer program logicencoded thereon that when performed in a computerized device providesassociated operations providing an extensible master-slave userinterface with distinct interaction models as explained herein. Thecomputer program logic, when executed on at least one processor with acomputing system, causes the processor to perform the operations (e.g.,the methods) indicated herein as embodiments of the clip-beat aligner.Such arrangements of the clip-beat aligner are typically provided assoftware, code and/or other data structures arranged or encoded on acomputer readable medium such as an optical medium (e.g., CD-ROM),floppy or hard disk or other a medium such as firmware or microcode inone or more ROM or RAM or PROM chips or as an Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC) or as downloadable software images in one ormore modules, shared libraries, etc. The software or firmware or othersuch configurations can be installed onto a computerized device to causeone or more processors in the computerized device to perform thetechniques explained herein as embodiments of the clip-beat aligner.Software processes that operate in a collection of computerized devices,such as in a group of data communications devices or other entities canalso provide the system of the clip-beat aligner. The system of theclip-beat aligner can be distributed between many software processes onseveral data communications devices, or all processes could run on asmall set of dedicated computers, or on one computer alone.

While this clip-beat aligner has been particularly shown and describedwith references to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understoodby those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details maybe made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent application as defined by the appended claims. Such variationsare intended to be covered by the scope of this present application. Assuch, the foregoing description of embodiments of the presentapplication is not intended to be limiting. Rather, any limitations tothe clip-beat aligner are presented in the following claims.

1. A computer-implemented method in which at least one computer systemaccesses instructions from computer storage and executes theinstructions to perform steps of: receiving a placement of an imagestill at a location on a timeline, the image still having a currentduration defined by a start boundary and an end boundary; identifying aproximate musical beat from a plurality of musical beats associated withthe timeline, the proximate musical beat occurring at a position on thetimeline nearest to the end boundary of the image still; modifying thecurrent duration of the image still to equal a duration of timeoccurring between the start boundary of the image still and the positionof the proximate musical beat on the timeline, modifying furtherincluding expanding the current duration of the image still upondetecting the duration of time occurring between the start boundary ofthe image still and the position of the proximate musical beat isgreater than the current duration of the image still; and aligning amodified end boundary of the image still with the proximate musicalbeat.
 2. The computer-implemented method as in claim 1, wherein aligningthe modified end boundary of the image still includes: associating anexpanded end boundary of the image still with the timeline, the expandedend boundary of the image still and the proximate musical beat occurringsimultaneously on the timeline.
 3. The computer-implemented method as inclaim 1, wherein modifying the current duration of the image stillincludes: trimming the current duration of the image still upondetecting the duration of time occurring between the start boundary ofthe image still and the position of the proximate musical beat is lessthan the current duration of the image still.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method as in claim 1, wherein aligning the modifiedend boundary of the image still includes: associating a trimmed endboundary of the image still with the timeline, the trimmed end boundaryof the image still and the proximate musical beat occurringsimultaneously on the timeline.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein: theidentified proximate musical beat being located closest to a defaultduration for the image still as measured from a position on the timelinefrom which the image still begins; and expanding the duration of theimage still to occur simultaneously with the closest proximate musicalbeat.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein aligning the modified endboundary includes expanding the duration of the image stillindependently of an original duration of the image still.
 7. A computerreadable medium encoded with computer programming logic that, whenexecuted as a process in a computerized device, performs instructionscomprising: receiving a placement of an image still at a location on atimeline, the image still having a current duration defined by a startboundary and an end boundary; identifying a proximate musical beat froma plurality of musical beats associated with the timeline, the proximatemusical beat occurring at a position on the timeline nearest to the endboundary of the image still; modifying the current duration of the imagestill to equal a duration of time occurring between the start boundaryof the image still and the position of the proximate musical beat on thetimeline; and aligning a modified end boundary of the image still withthe timeline.
 8. The computer readable medium as in claim 7, whereinmodifying the current duration of the image still includes: expandingthe current duration of the image still upon detecting the duration oftime occurring between the start boundary of the image still and theposition of the proximate musical beat is greater than the currentduration of the image still; and aligning the modified end boundary ofthe image still including associating an expanded end boundary of theimage still with the timeline, the expanded end boundary of the imagestill and the proximate musical beat occurring simultaneously on thetimeline.
 9. The computer readable medium as in claim 7, whereinmodifying the current duration of the image still includes: trimming thecurrent duration image still upon detecting the duration of timeoccurring between the start boundary of the image still and the positionof the proximate musical beat is less than the current duration of theimage still.
 10. The computer readable medium as in claim 9, whereinaligning the modified end boundary of the image still includes:associating a trimmed end boundary of the image still with the timeline,the trimmed end boundary of the image still and the proximate musicalbeat occurring simultaneously on the timeline.
 11. At least one computersystem comprising: a memory; a processor; a communications interface; aninterconnection mechanism coupling the memory, the processor and thecommunications interface; wherein the memory is encoded with a clip-beataligner application that when performed on the processor, provides aclip-beat aligner process that performs operations of: receiving aplacement of an image still at a location on a timeline, the image stillhaving a current duration defined by a start boundary and an endboundary; identifying a proximate musical beat from a plurality ofmusical beats associated with the timeline, the proximate musical beatoccurring at a position on the timeline nearest to the end boundary ofthe image still; modifying the current duration of the image still toequal a duration of time occurring between the start boundary of theimage still and the position of the proximate musical beat on thetimeline, modifying further including expanding the current duration ofthe image still upon detecting the duration of time occurring betweenthe start boundary of the image still and the position of the proximatemusical beat is greater than the current duration of the image still;and aligning a modified end boundary of the image still with theproximate musical beat.